LOS ANGELES — A Kern County judge is expected to issue a court order today that will ensure that Bakersfield high school students are not wrongly censored and that student free speech rights in the district are preserved.

"Even though I'm in college now, I really wanted to make sure that future newspaper staffs could write about serious topics like sexual orientation in a meaningful way without worrying that they would be censored," said Maria Krauter, former editor-in-chief of The Kernal. "Now I know that's the case."

The final step comes a year and a half after the ACLU of Southern California and the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP filed a lawsuit after student journalists and their interview subjects were prohibited from publishing a series in the East Bakersfield High School student newspaper, The Kernal, about sexual orientation and gender identity.

The agreement, which is signed by the ACLU/SC, Milbank and the Kern High School District and will be filed with Superior Court Judge Sidney P. Chapin today, affirms that 'all students have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press' and that school officials may turn to censorship only as a last resort.

It states: 'Prior to any restriction of student speech, school officials will consider all practical alternative options, and, where feasible, will implement any such practical alternative options instead of restricting the speech."

'This is a momentous day,' said Christine Sun, the ACLU/SC attorney who represented the six students and their co-plaintiff, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, throughout the fight. 'From day one the students knew they had been wrongly censored and vowed to make sure this didn't happen to the next generation of Kern students. Under this policy, the students would not have been censored in the first place.'

Sun said that the legally-binding agreement came about as part of settlement discussions between the ACLU/SC and the District this fall. Part of the settlement included a change to district free speech policy, which the Kern High School District trustees drafted and approved in October.

'This consent decree is a victory for students' free speech rights and sets an important example for other school districts that school officials must take proactive steps to protect students from harassment and threats of violence before resorting to censorship of students' free speech,' said Carolyn Laub, executive director and founder of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Nearly 600 schools in California have Gay-Straight Alliance clubs.

Students originally sought to publish the articles in the second to last edition of the paper during the 2004-2005 academic year, but could not after the East High principal, citing vague threats to gay students, demanded the students pull the articles. The student journalists and their sources went to court seeking an order allowing them to publish the articles in the final edition of the paper.

The court denied the request, stating that more information about the district's reasons for censoring the articles was needed. Over the summer and fall school officials failed to produce evidence of their claims that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students would be harmed as a result of the publication of the articles.

The lawsuit also revealed the principal took no steps to inform those students' parents or the police officer assigned to the school of the alleged threats. In October 2005, the school relented and the articles were printed last November.

The students continued the lawsuit in order to obtain a policy that would prevent other students from being wrongfully censored, a goal that they achieved today with the consent decree.

Michael Diamond, Rick Baker and Jeff Goldman from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP were co-counsel along with Sun and James Esseks of the ACLU LGBT and AIDS Project.

LOS ANGELES — On behalf of a mentally-disabled, 63-year-old homeless woman who was left on Skid Row in just a hospital gown and socks, the ACLU of Southern California, Public Counsel Law Center and the law firm Girardi and Keese filed a lawsuit today against Kaiser Permanente in order to stop the hospital's practice of dumping patients in Downtown Los Angeles.

"In this city, we don't 'dump patients' as if they were disposable rubbish," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the ACLU/SC. "The practices brought to light are like throwing fuel on the already raging fire of homelessness on Skid Row. Kaiser's actions are medical and moral malpractice."

The lawsuit, which was filed in Superior Court, came one day after City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo filed a similar suit against Kaiser on behalf of the people of Los Angeles. Both suits seek to enjoin the practice of dumping homeless patients on Skid Row.

"What happened to our client is horrific and tragic," said Dan Grunfeld, president/CEO of Public Counsel. "This lawsuit is being brought not only to protect her but also to establish safeguards that will prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again."

In March the woman, who is seeking damages from Kaiser, was captured on security cameras wandering on a Skid Row street wearing only two hospital gowns, a diaper and a pair of hospital socks. She was discharged from Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in the afternoon, rushed into a taxi without her clothes and dropped off in front of the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row. The woman, who was homeless, had been living in Gardena, but was dropped 16 miles away in a part of town where she had no ties to the community.

The woman was discharged with no money, no identification other than a hospital bracelet, no medication and no personal belongings. Mission staff found her a bed, but within three days of her discharge she was readmitted to the hospital, this time to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center.

According to the lawsuit: "This case seeks to put an end to this inhumane and illegal practice. (The) plaintiff is informed and believes that Kaiser has engaged in this conduct with full knowledge that the persons it transports to Skid Row will not continue to heal or recuperate in that setting and that no social service agency on or near Skid Row can provide for the rehabilitative and medical care these persons require."

In December 2005, the City Attorney's office sent a warning letter to many local hospitals regarding possible legal action to stop the practice of dumping. In March, several members of the Los Angeles City Council also sent a letter to hospital chiefs about the practice and since the spring several groups have been in discussion with Kaiser about preventing further patients from being dumped, but the hospital has thus far made no commitment to ending the practice.

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Above: ACLU/SC's Mark Rosenbaum speaking about the lawsuit with City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, at left.

In March a shocking video showed a woman in a hospital gown lost on a busy downtown L.A. street. Now the ACLU/SC is suing the hospital that dumped her on Skid Row wearing just two hospital gowns, a diaper and a pair of socks.

"In this city, we don't 'dump patients' as if they were disposable rubbish," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum.

The lawsuit comes after months of negotiations with Kaiser Permanente to end the practice. The L.A. City Attorney has also filed criminal and civil charges against the hospital chain for its treatment of the 63-year-old homeless woman pictured in the video.

In the video shot from a security camera at the Union Rescue Mission, a taxi pulled up in front of the entrance and out of view. Moments later, a woman wobbled down the street. A few minutes later a representative from the mission met her and escorted her inside.

The woman, who was from Gardena not downtown L.A., had no money, no identification other than a hospital bracelet, and no medication or personal belongings when she was released from a Kaiser hospital in Bellflower. Three days later, she was readmitted to a local hospital.

The lawsuit states that Kaiser "has engaged in this conduct with full knowledge that the persons it transports to Skid Row will not continue to heal or recuperate in that setting."

Last year, several groups were in negotiations with Kaiser to prevent further dumping of patients, but the hospital made no commitment to end the practice.

Public Counsel and law firm Girardi and Keese join the ACLU/SC in the suit.